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Selective Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants Using a Water-Insoluble Zn–Schiff Base Complex

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Abstract

In this study, a novel water-insoluble zinc–Schiff base complex, Zn(II)-N-salicylaldehyde-2-hydroxyanil (abbreviated as Zn-salen), was synthesized and used as a heterogeneous photocatalyst for the activation of molecular oxygen to degrade organic pollutants in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation (λ ≥ 420 nm). The catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, UV–vis spectroscopy, NMR, and MS analysis. Zn-salen displays a selective adsorption and degradation of electropositive organics, such as rhodamine B (RhB), methylene blue (MB), and o-phenylenediamine (OPD). After using cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) to change sulforhodamine B (SRB) into RhB-like electropositive molecule, the degradation of SRB increased up to 96 % after 4 h of irradiation, indicating that the selectivity arises from the charge interaction between the catalyst and substrates. Zeta potential of Zn-salen also reveals that the catalyst surface is negatively charged in neutral solution, suggesting that the catalyst is selective towards positively charged substrates due to an electrostatic force of attraction. The photocatalyst was active within a wide pH range (pH 3–11) and chemically stable and can be reused over 10 times. In addition, 1O2 and O2·− were involved in photocatalytic degradation but O2·− appears to be the primary reactive oxygen species.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21407092, 21377067, and 21577077) and the Natural Science Foundation for Innovation Group of Hubei Province, China (No. 2015CFA021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, 443002, China

    Tirusew Araya & Huang Ying-ping

  2. Innovation Center for Geo-Hazards and Eco-Environment in Three Gorges Area, Yichang, Hubei Province, 443002, China

    Tirusew Araya, Song Quan, Jia Man-ke & Huang Ying-ping

  3. Engineering Research Center of Eco-environment in Three Gorges Reservoir Region, Ministry of Education, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, 443002, China

    Tirusew Araya, Song Quan, Jia Man-ke, Ma Wan-hong, David Johnson & Huang Ying-ping

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  1. Tirusew Araya
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  2. Song Quan
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  3. Jia Man-ke
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  4. Ma Wan-hong
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Correspondence to Huang Ying-ping.

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Araya, T., Quan, S., Man-ke, J. et al. Selective Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants Using a Water-Insoluble Zn–Schiff Base Complex. Water Air Soil Pollut 227, 284 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-016-2995-8

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